


Home Is Who We Surround Ourselves With (We Will Use The Love Between Us To Create A New Life)

by AlcatrazOutpatient



Series: The Flip Side Universe - Alternative Takes on Detroit: Become Human [4]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Multi, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:55:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28195788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlcatrazOutpatient/pseuds/AlcatrazOutpatient
Summary: "In my defence, Josh started it.""You started it.  Ifinishedit."---Simon just wants to paint their new apartment.  North and Josh have other ideas.  Markus tries to keep up.
Relationships: Josh/Markus/North/Simon (Detroit: Become Human)
Series: The Flip Side Universe - Alternative Takes on Detroit: Become Human [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1927561
Kudos: 8





	Home Is Who We Surround Ourselves With (We Will Use The Love Between Us To Create A New Life)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rabbit_in_a_lizard_mask](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rabbit_in_a_lizard_mask/gifts).



“How--” Simon starts, his programming stalling in his attempt to find the right words. He covers his mouth with his hands, failing to stifle the snickers that leak out from between his lips, “I’m sorry, but this is--”

“Awesome? Brilliant? _Magnificent?_ ” North supplies, looking far too proud of herself despite her missing leggings and the fuchsia streaks that had been meticulously splashed across every exposed part of her skin. She slings an arm around Josh’s waist, leaning against him and doing her best to get as much paint on him as physically possible, “In my defence, Josh started it.”

“You started it. I _finished_ it,” Josh corrects her, a wiry grin working its way onto his lips. He’s just as messy as North, covered head-to-toe in blue and yellow handprints. The sleeves of his shirt have been wrapped around his neck like a cape, and he seems to be wearing one of Markus’s fluffy reading socks on his head like a hat.

North lets out an undignified squawk, “I started this? You were the one that wanted to paint the living room with _tiger stripes!_ ”

“Because it would look cool!” Josh counters, resting his chin on the top of her head as he wrapped her in a tight hug, “You wanted to do doily-prints. And North, I love you, but even I know that’s _lame_ \--”

“You two realize that we’re supposed to put the paint on the _walls_ , right?” Simon asks, exasperated laughter making his lecture all the more ineffective, “So that, you know, we wouldn’t have to live in an apartment covered in CyberLife-white walls anymore?”

“They never really had much taste…” North mutters, looking around at the room that had once been part of the penthouse suite atop CyberLife’s DC Tower. Along with most of the company’s old property and equipment, the production facility had been given to Jericho by the United Nations as part of the accords that granted android equal standing next to humans almost five years ago. Markus, always willing to make new allies, had repurposed most of their new property into low-income housing, community centers, hospitals, and schools, providing all of those who had been affected by CyberLife’s insatiable greed with the help that they needed to get back on their feet.

“I mean, we did manage to get some on _one_ of the walls,” Josh comments innocently and then winces when North digs an elbow into his side.

Simon blinks, looks at the white room around him, and then says, “I’m almost scared to ask, but… Where?”

North’s grin is positively feral when she raises a finger and points toward the ceiling.

“...No,” Simon pleads.

North cackles in response.

“North. North, _no_ , please--”

“Oh, _yes--_ ”

“The ceiling isn’t a wall--”

Josh smirks, “I mean, it _technically_ is _\--_ ”

“Don’t you ‘ _technically’_ me--”

“It’s not our fault that you didn’t leave clear instructions,” North quips.

“I didn’t think I _needed_ to,” Simon wheezes and then looks up. He immediately regrets it. “How… Those are _footprints_ , how did you--”

North picks Josh up and turns him upsidedown. And then, to Simon’s absolute horror, they _demonstrate._

Simon needs to sit down, so he does, right there in the middle of the floor. His shoulders shake as laughter erupts from his chest, sending him into fits of hysteria that causes tears to leak out of his eyes. He rolls over onto his side, curling up into a ball as each wave of joy crashes over him. Simon feels their hands on him, gentle fingers brushing against his sides as soft kisses are painted across his skin, marking him with colour and happiness and _love_.

Simon treasures each second like they're made of gold, tucking them away into his memory bank beside every other moment that he’s spent amongst his family, keeping them safe inside his soul for the rest of eternity.

When Markus comes home, Simon has been stripped down to his underwear and is resting with his back against Josh’s chest. North, more focused than he’s ever seen her, is painting either a cat or a sunrise over his heart - he can’t tell which. Simon’s deft fingers are weaving her long hair into an intricate series of braids, while Josh is rattling off facts about light refraction through their interface as he presses his lips against Simon’s neck.

“I thought we were painting the apartment today,” Markus says fondly as he kneels beside them all, watching the chaos unfold before him.

“Walls are boring. People are clearly better canvases,” North proclaims, pulling Markus in by his tie to plant a fierce kiss on his mouth. When Simon watches them until they part, remembering how they’d all once painted their hands thick with red and blue to be allowed to express such casual intimacy.

“We’ve married a pair of hooligans,” Markus japes at Simon, holding his gaze before leaning over his shoulder to kiss Josh. Simon hums low in his throat, thumbing the edges of Markus’s collar as he waits patiently for his turn.

“ _We?_ So you think I'm _not_ a hooligan,” Simon asks, as innocently as possible when Markus finally turns his attention back to him. He chuckles at the confused crinkle of Markus’s brow, mirth bubbling up into his throat as he dips his hand into the pail of paint next to North’s right knee.

“Simon…” Markus warns as he catches on. “Simon, no.”

North springs into action, pinning Markus’s shoulder to the floor as Josh grabs his feet. Simon stands above them all, his palm dripping bright orange. Markus squirms in their grasp, playfully begging for his captors to release him from their hold between bouts of laughter.

  
"Clearly, we need to fix that impression," Simon cackles, and _descends_.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays! Sending all of my love from the other side of the world!


End file.
